Posted: Fri, Jul 11, 2014, 7:20 AM ET (1120 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket successfully placed into orbit Thursday a second set of four broadband communications satellites. A Soyuz ST-B rocket lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, on schedule at 2:55 pm EDT (1855 GMT) Thursday. Its Fregat upper stage released the four O3b Networks satellites into equatorial orbits at an altitude of about 8,000 kilometers a little more than two hours later. The satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space and weighing about 700 kilograms each, join four other satellites launched last year to provide broadband Internet access to underserved regions of the globe. A third set of four satellites is planned for launch early next year.